


Remember, Remember

by Ford_Ye_Fiji



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M, Poor Coulson, Romance, Some Action, come on nerd framework Coulson was cute!, him and his soap, kiss, may is hardcore, philinda kiss, yaaaaaay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-20
Updated: 2017-07-20
Packaged: 2018-12-04 15:11:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11557809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ford_Ye_Fiji/pseuds/Ford_Ye_Fiji
Summary: May sneered, hand tightening on his throat, but the doubt was there in her eyes. She knew, or sensed, some sort of truth in his words. She was so close, so close to realizing... She just needed something to push her over the edge.She was also, physically close, breath mingling as she searched his face for a lie, "Prove it."...An alternate way for Melinda May to remember the real world.





	Remember, Remember

"May, you have to listen to me!"

Two bullets slammed into the wall just above and to the left of his head. It would've been a perfect headshot if he'd been in her sights. The gunshots were merely a warning. Coulson sighed as he braced himself to look over the box he was hiding behind, "I guess that's a no, then."

A few days ago, Jemma Simmons and Skye- Qua- Daisy, that's it _Daisy_ , Johnson had approached him in his classroom with the crazy story of how this was a fake world. Despite himself, Phil had believed it. The fragments and flashes of memory- two young scientists puzzling over something new and exciting, a young brunette woman (Daisy) typing rapidly on a computer with delight in her eyes, and a woman with dark hair and almond eyes smiling at him over a bottle of something alcoholic. Haig, his mind supplied unhelpfully. Those fragments had expanded into human robots and carvings on walls and a massive jet blotting out the sky.

It hadn't taken long for most of it to return, though he still felt distinctly off. Mostly because no matter how hard he tried to fully be Agent Coulson, a scared part of him clung with computer coded claws onto the timid schoolteacher with ridiculous conspiracy theories about soap.

He remembered enough to know May. And recall that kiss, and the robot replica... The late nights after missions when they were still too awake from adrenaline to sleep and the little cafe where they met to drink coffee and green tea. When he was still a junior agent and had trouble tying his tie, she'd laugh and brush away his fumbling fingers with an unusually amused smile. The missions they'd saved each other on, the times they'd both thought the other dead, how the two of them were an almost perfect fit working together. A mix of cheerful banter, references to films and books, eye rolling, and snarky comebacks. How May said she thought his puns were stupid, but the corners of her lips twisted upwards in blatant contradiction. These memories were jumbled and blurry, they faded away whenever he tried to grab at it, but he could still just barely grasp the edges of the picture they made. He knew enough to know that he missed her and needed to get her back.

It was hard to reconcile with her, however, when she was a renowned agent of HYDRA and hellbent on killing the resistance. Or in this case, him. He knew he didn't stand a chance in a fight, he was still trying remember hand to hand! He had to talk her down.

It did annoy him a little bit that he couldn't get the specifics of close quarters combat down, but could remember what type of tea Melinda May took. And that she absolutely refused coffee.

He leaned over, and shot in the general direction May had last been in.

He didn't hit her. He didn't expect to and he didn't want to.

She fired her gun a few more times, he heard her reload and took his chance to move to another shield.

He paused, back against the pillar, eyes blown wide with carefully concealed fright. He'd fought Agent May before, flashes of flying feet and fists coming at him impossibly fast- Coulson blinked away the images. That had been for practice. Now, she was actually trying to kill him, and this time, she would have no mercy.

It was far too quiet over there, he fired the gun around the corner without looking before he quickly poked his head around after it. His breath caught, there was no May. Where had she gone? His mind snapped to attention and he pulled back around the pillar, this time he fired his gun into the shadows cloaking the beams and catwalks in the darkness of the warehouse ceiling.

In the minute it took the (former?) SHIELD agent to reload his weapon, Melinda May dropped from the roof and slammed Coulson into the cement floor.

Hand to hand it was, then.

"May! May it's me! You've got to remember!"

They struggled, his glasses getting knocked away in the fight even as he successfully blocked a clenched fist. He held up rather well for his schoolteacher persona, but it wasn't anywhere near enough to defeat the Cavalry.

May downed him with a hard strike against his head, slamming it viciously into the ground and causing the world to fade black for a crucial moment. She successfully pinned him, a knee digging painfully into his stomach and a hand at his throat, which was enough a threat without the other hand poised to strike with a small carefully concealed knife. Incapacitated in less than five minutes. If he and everyone else ever got out of the Framework alive, she would never let him live it down. The inner voice programmed in by AIDA screamed at him that he shouldn't even be in a resistance against the sadistic rulers of this supposedly fake earth _or_ fighting one of their very real and very dangerous agents. The other part, the one that knew he wasn't from here but the other world, told him to shut up.

"May, you have to try!"

She frowned and snarled through clenched teeth and heavy pants from the short exhilarating fight, "Why do you people keep asking me to remember?! Remember what?"

"Because- because-" this was going to sound crazy and probably drive her away but he needed to tell her the truth- she'd know if he lied now, "Because none of this is real."

"It seems pretty real to me."

She raised the knife to strike but Coulson protested, "Wait wait! I mean this isn't the real world- we're trapped inside a fake programmed world called the Framework. We've been placed here by an android named AIDA. You know her here by Madame Hydra. May, _please_."

May sneered, hand tightening on his throat, but the doubt was there in her eyes. She knew, or sensed, some sort of truth in his words. She was so close, so close to realizing... She just needed something to push her over the edge.

She was also, physically close, breath mingling as she searched his face for a lie, "Prove it."

"I- I can't- Mels-"

"I thought not."

She was drawing away and Phil needed her to stay. She couldn't close herself off, not now! Coulson acted on instinct, following her up and slanting his lips perfectly across hers.

Nope. Instinct was bad. Don't listen to instinct.

Melinda's eyes closed slowly and her knife clattered to the floor. May knew who he was, somewhere deep inside, or else he'd be dead four times over by now. His brain short-circuited then.

She tasted like cherries.

This time, he was the one who drew away, mostly because he was getting a really uncomfortable crick in his neck. May blinked, lips parted with astonishment. She shook her head with confusion, the hand that had loosened on his neck going up to press against her forehead.

She looked at him again, "Phil?"

He smiled widely, "Oh thank goodness. May. You're back."

"Did you just _kiss_ me?!"

"Uh, no?"

She breathed again, brain still sorting through the bombardment of new information. May stood slowly, and offered a hand which Coulson gladly took. When he turned, eyes already scanning for the door he'd entered that had separated him from the rest of the team, May tugged him back around.

"May?"

Her eyes were dark, "We'll talk about this later, Phil."

His framework self cowered. He shivered, but it wasn't from fear, "Okay."

She nodded sharply, eyes steely, "And we'll open that bottle of Haig."

"Yeah... Um. About that..."

**Author's Note:**

> Don't get me wrong, I loved the way she remembered in the show, they did it very well, but hey. Philinda, guys.


End file.
